Is Your Facebook Profile Public?

Posted on December 30, 2009 in Business/Law, Consumer Goods, Technology

An update to Facebook’s privacy policy may allow strangers to access your information. Although a video walks users through the changes, privacy advocates are contending that the changes are more for Facebook’s benefit than the user. Here’s how to check out the new settings to make sure your profile stays secure:

Before, Facebook users had the option to hide everything but name and networks in the “Basic Info” privacy settings. Now, public information might include gender, profile photo, current city, friends and fan pages. Applications or quizzes can also pull private information from your profile (as part of the terms of use). The information that Facebook terms “Publicly Available Information” is visible via Internet search engines.

In order to make changes, place your cursor over “Settings” and select “Privacy Settings” from the drop-down menu. Uncheck the “Allow Indexing” box to prevent your information turning up on a Google search.